What is Benefit Assessment?

BENEFIT Assessment

BENEFIT assessment is a specialized method, supported by the BENEFIT tool, developed by the U.S. Arctic Observing Network (US AON). US AON is a sub-body of the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) whose purpose is to improve observational and data sharing systems in the Arctic. BENEFIT assessment provides a systematic way to link observing system inputs, through intermediate products and applications, to the societal benefit areas they support. This is crucial because the Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing regions, and existing observations often fall short of the needs of Arctic communities, researchers, and policymakers.

The name BENEFIT is an acronym that describes the main goals and features of this assessment process:

• Benefit Evaluation: This involves specifying desired outcomes through a benefit framework, which then illuminates how the strengths and gaps in an observing system impact society.
• Network Exploration: Users can explore how the interconnected system of observations, data, products, and services works together to generate value. For instance, you might see that a dataset reliably shows trends over decades but performs poorly for real-time measurements or forecasting, or vice versa.
• Find gaps: Benefit Assessments include ratings of each input's relative impact and performance, and identify gaps that impede performance.
• Improve Together: By gaining a fuller understanding of how different observing and data systems contribute to real-world benefits, decision-makers at local, regional, and national levels can make more informed choices to sustain and improve critical observational systems, fostering collaborative improvement.

How BENEFIT Assessment Works

The BENEFIT assessment process relies on expert elicitation, where groups of subject matter experts go through a structured process to identify specific strengths and gaps within an observing system and its contributions to society and scientific discovery. These experts often focus on thematically-driven, mission-critical efforts linked to key products (e.g., Arctic Report Card) or services (e.g., daily sea ice forecasts). The online BENEFIT tool then translates this expert input into powerful visualizations of the system's strengths and identifies opportunities for value generation.

This tool allows Arctic communities, scientists, and other experts to illustrate the value of observing and data systems and to illuminate critical gaps.

Why BENEFIT Assessment is Important

Current Arctic observations provide valuable information that influences community resilience, global models and forecasts, national security decisions, and economic prosperity. However, these observations are distributed across complex networks and are often constrained by a lack of long-term funding, infrastructure, capacity building, and coordination. No single agency or country can fulfill all the needs of this rapidly changing region.

Therefore, US AON developed BENEFIT assessment to provide a comprehensive evidence base that systematically identifies gaps and opportunities for optimized investment in the Arctic observing system. It offers actionable recommendations to build on strengths and reduce gaps, helping those living and working in the Arctic better understand the interwoven connections between observing systems, the tools, and the decision-making they support. By tracing where observing systems are contributing to societal needs, as well as where there are unmet needs, US AON helps establish an understanding of the current state of Arctic observations.

This methodology is being continuously improved to better meet the needs of a diverse range of users. The BENEFIT tool is an open-source project, currently available as a minimum viable product for early adopters to use and provide feedback.